Empire Financial Management Company LLC Acquires Shares of 19,000 The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Empire Financial Management Company LLC bought a new position in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 19,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $818,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CG. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 41,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,797,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Tobam raised its position in The Carlyle Group by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 10.6% in the third quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 3,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in The Carlyle Group by 0.5% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 61,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

CG stock opened at $52.39 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 180.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.85. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.64 and a 52-week high of $55.11. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. The company had revenue of $895.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $908.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 482.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on The Carlyle Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of The Carlyle Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.47.

Insider Transactions at The Carlyle Group

In other The Carlyle Group news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 924,466 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.14, for a total value of $1,978,357.24. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,643,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,796,514.34. This trade represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total value of $25,535,279.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 32,504,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,674,936,376.06. The trade was a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,171,556 shares of company stock worth $29,222,475 in the last three months. 27.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Carlyle Group Profile

The Carlyle Group Inc is an investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. Within direct investments, it specializes in management-led/ Leveraged buyouts, privatizations, divestitures, strategic minority equity investments, structured credit, global distressed and corporate opportunities, small and middle market, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, senior debt, mezzanine and leveraged finance, and venture and growth capital financings, seed/startup, early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, mid venture, late venture, PIPES.